# Help keeping humidity down in my humidor



## ferks012 (Nov 13, 2009)

I purchased a new 150 ct humidor about 10 days ago. I seasoned it by wiping the inside down once with distilled water and leaving a shot glass of distilled in there over night for 2 nights. I put my sticks in Tuesday of this past week and it sat nicely between 70-72 RH up until yesterday when in jumped to 75 RH. Today i checked it and it was up to 79. As for my humidifiers i had the stock circle type one and a larger rectangle one in there, I have since removed the larger one to decrease humidity but was wondering if anyone could help me out, it has jumped 9 points RH in 2 days... Thanks alot Brad


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## thebayratt (Jun 4, 2009)

Mine did the same when I fill it to the max. It was fine at around 65% with the small round one. Then I filled it up and it jumped to 73%... I pulled out the humidifier, it didn't get any higher. Tempted to throw a dry paper towl in to maybe soak up some RH..


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## dubels (Jun 21, 2009)

What type of hygrometer are you using? How many sticks do you have in there currently? To decrease your RH you can just crack lid open for an hour or two and it will drop down. Just place a small matchbox in between the lid and let the extra humidity escape. But I suggest ditching the stock humidifiers and getting beads. The stock humidifiers are just putting too much humidity out there, or you can just fill the humidor up with some sticks. The more cigars in the humidor the easier it is to regulate the humidity.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

The sooner you get some beads the less you will ever have to worry about flucuations in humidity. I don't know of too many people who have not experienced what you do with new humidors. I have 4 of them and broke them in all the same way and they all experienced their own fluctuation spikes. I got tired of babysitting them and worrying about the spikes and lows of the humidity so I bought a pound of beads and put them in my humidors. Within a couple of days I was at 70% and have never worried about them again. I do 70% because I dont like my cigars at 65%.


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## ferks012 (Nov 13, 2009)

I am currently using an Xikar Digital hygrometer, I only have about 30 sticks in there so i guess i will have to get more soon LOL.... I have heard people with the beads but i really dont know exactly how to use them.. So for now I am guessing on cracking the lid a little and sticking a few crumpled paper towels in there?


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

Cigary said:


> The sooner you get some beads the less you will ever have to worry about flucuations in humidity. I don't know of too many people who have not experienced what you do with new humidors. I have 4 of them and broke them in all the same way and they all experienced their own fluctuation spikes. I got tired of babysitting them and worrying about the spikes and lows of the humidity so I bought a pound of beads and put them in my humidors. Within a couple of days I was at 70% and have never worried about them again. I do 70% because I dont like my cigars at 65%.


What he said......although I like mine at 65 %


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

ferks012 said:


> I am currently using an Xikar Digital hygrometer, I only have about 30 sticks in there so i guess i will have to get more soon LOL.... I have heard people with the beads but i really dont know exactly how to use them.
> . So for now I am guessing on cracking the lid a little and sticking a few crumpled paper towels in there?


Add distilled water until 2/3 turn from white to clear

That is it


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

ferks012 said:


> I am currently using an Xikar Digital hygrometer, I only have about 30 sticks in there so i guess i will have to get more soon LOL.... I have heard people with the beads but i really dont know exactly how to use them.. So for now I am guessing on cracking the lid a little and sticking a few crumpled paper towels in there?


Very easy to use beads. Figure that you will grow your cigar hobby and just get a pound of beads. I use 1/4 pound per humidor that holds about 175 cigars each. Hydrate the beads by using distilled water ( hydrate about 80% where you will see the beads turn clear ) and you can use any one of many containers,,,,,Heartfelt Industries, Heartfelt Cigar Humidor Humidity Beads, Heartfelt Beads, Humidors, Quality Cigar Accessories

Once you get the beads you can just worry about buying more cigars. Life just got better, didn't it?


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## Warren (Apr 6, 2007)

If you have any cedar sticks from boxes you can put one of those inside. If it's dry it will soak up some of the humidity.

Take a clean unused sponge, cut a chunk off if it's a large one, and put that inside. After a while take it out, let it dry, and put it back in.

If you crack the lid keep an eye on it. I'm in GA and right now the humidity in my house is about 25%-30%. That will suck your humidor dry fast.

A lot of people here love the beads. I tried them too. Not bad but in my experience not as easy to maintain as some suggest and semi-expensive if you have a large box. I bought the 70% RH ones and they held anywhere from 65% - 75% but not a steady 70%. It depends on how much water you put on them, how close of an eye on keep on them when they start to dry, etc. Plus they are quite messy. When I heard "beads" I assumed I would get uniformed sized beads. Actually some are beads, some are half beads, and some are dust. I used the tube and the smaller pieces got all inside my humidor. I switched to a shallow dish and it did ok but still I prefer distilled water and a nice humidifier.

To each his own though. Not trashing the beads. Just pros and cons as with everything else.


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## bazookajoe (Nov 2, 2006)

ferks012 said:


> I purchased a new 150 ct humidor about 10 days ago. I seasoned it by wiping the inside down once with distilled water and leaving a shot glass of distilled in there over night for 2 nights. I put my sticks in Tuesday of this past week and it sat nicely between 70-72 RH up until yesterday when in jumped to 75 RH. Today i checked it and it was up to 79. As for my humidifiers i had the stock circle type one and a larger rectangle one in there, I have since removed the larger one to decrease humidity but was wondering if anyone could help me out, it has jumped 9 points RH in 2 days... Thanks alot Brad


Did you use propylene glycol (cigar juice) in the humidifiers?


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## smokin nightly (Sep 9, 2009)

Honestly, if someone would have told me about beads when I first started, it would have saved me so much trouble...I dont know one disadvantage to the beads...

So, Im telling you...just get the beads and they will do you no wrong...


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## R10 (Oct 4, 2009)

Some thoughts on your isssue.

1) Your humidor needed more time to season before putting stick in. You might take out the cigars and let it season for about a week - two days, especially if you did a wet wipe, really wasn't enough time for it to settle down.

2) In the future - yes, you will get another humi - don't wipe it down with water, generally this can be bad for the wood and makes it harder to season properly.

3) If you see a spike like this on a seasoned humi, then - What is the room environment like? Have you turned up the heat in the house?

4) You will see a small change in the humidity when you put in cigars - usually this settles down in a day (or two- depending on amount of cigars and their condition).


BTW - I'm agreement on beads - they do work. Get the 65 or 70's depending on how you like to keep your cigars. I tried the tubes, but too hard for me to see through to gage when to spray - changed to bags (all from heartfelt) and a handsprayer for distilled water(walmart). In one humi - my largest - I have both active humidification(oasis) and a bag of 65 beads. In the smaller humis - 50cts - just beads.


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